All the Time in the World
by ObadobaDarigan
Summary: The Handmaid has been guiding Alternia to war from the very begining. Her own story, however, starts at the end.


My very first assignment was pretty commonplace- Lead the woman in green to the crater without letting her get too close to me. Despite it's simplicity, my four-sweep-old self still saw it as the best day of my life. It was the first time in my life that I was finally able to get away from Scratch and see my race's planet up close. All my life up until then, the only times I'd been able to see it were brief glances out of Felt Manor's windows on those few occasion I'd been able to escape my room.

With a flash of green, Scratch teleported me to the dead planet. Surrounding me was nothing but rocks and dust, which really wasn't all that surprising. There was no way Scratch would actually let me see anything of Alternian culture so early on. The only thing I needed to know was how to obey orders and control time.

I raised my needles and concentrated, using the weapons to channel my power. Within moments, I had sent myself back by thousands of sweeps. Nothing much had changed. Rocks and dust were still everywhere. The only difference now was that a huge, smoldering crater now sat a few yards ahead of me. Peeking over the edge, I saw something small wriggling around at the bottom of the pit. I didn't stay and stare, I couldn't let the target get away.

I headed away from the crater, my excitement building. This was it. I would finally see another real, live troll. Finally coming over the top of the nearest hill, I saw her. She was the lone traveller on a long path through the rocky terrain. She was tall and slender, with horns far smaller than my curling set, which I can't say I wasn't extremely proud of. I jumped into the open, waving my arms and calling out to her. Doc Scratch had explained that this would be enough to get her attention, as it was unheard of for a troll as young as me to be away from my hive. She immediately snapped out of her thoughts, just staring at me for a moment before hesitantly walking towards me. I stayed there for a moment, then ran back down the hill. I led her to the crater like this, making sure she was never less than 20 feet away. I ran past the crater, hiding behind some rocks on the other side. The woman almost passed by it, but stopped once she saw the movement at the bottom. She gasped, realizing what it was. She half-climbed-half-slid down the edge of the crater and picked up the little red wriggler.

My job was done, but I took a few moments to watch the woman carry it out of the crater, whispering comforting words to it all the while. I longed to have had someone like her to care for me when I was a wriggler. Bitter jealousy filled me as the two left. She had forgotten me so easily. Raising my needles, I absconded as quickly as I could.

-

Felt Manor was a miserable place. It was nothing but the color green and the sound of ticking clocks. Some times I would sleep for days on end, other times I would stay up constantly trying to keep myself busy. Sometimes Scratch would send members of the Felt to keep me occupied. That usually didn't end well. The only things that happened regularly were the few hours a day Scratch used to train me and the food that periodically appeared on my small table. Sometimes I would turn on the weird window stored in my room and talk with the nice white lady. Well, I talked to her. She didn't seem to speak Alternian, but she would always stay and listen, at least until the orange guy came and ushered her away to do other things.

I tried escaping all the time. Once I seemed to have tried everything, I mostly gave up on escape and just tried to inconvenience my captors as much as possible. Taking a knife to the walls, smashing clocks, harassing Felt members with my time magic, leaving around hints for the Midnight Crew... Anything I could think of, really. I'd tried to smash the screen more than once, so I don't know why they didn't just move it. Picking up my chair, I got ready for the inevitable routine. I smash something, Scratch comes, we strife, I get my breathing privileges taken away. The actual suicide threat was something I threw in just this once. I knew he'd never let me die, but it was worth a shot. I didn't expect to be warped away to the sitting room, though. Usually he'd just whack me with a broom a few times, ramble about how unforgiving my next master would be, and leave me alone.

He wasted no time to start rattling off on another story. Over the sweeps, I'd learned to tune out his voice, so I only half heard the story. In retrospect, I probably should've listened. That way I would've known more of what was in store for me. I didn't really know why I snapped the screen in my room back on, I just seemed like a good thing to do. I really wasn't surprised when the orange guy showed up. He was holding that damned broom that I knew so well... I figured out what he planned to do with it pretty quickly. I kept my mouth shut, and waited for my chance to escape. The stranger pounced, and I ran. I wish I had stayed around to watch him beat the tar out of Scratch, and maybe even contribute to the beating. Unfortunately, I was to busy trying to delay the inevitable. It didn't work. The monster was already there. My freedom didn't last long, but even now I consider it one of the happiest moments of my life. If I looked up at that moment, as I raced across rooftops, I almost would've been able to see the second happiest moment of my life- my battle with the Witch, and my impending death. But then, alas, that fleeting moment was gone. He was suddenly there in front of me, and my life became a living hell.

This was intended to be an ongoing story all about the Handmaid's effects on Alternian history, but I started writing it mere days before the Dancestors started appearing in-comic, and that pretty much killed off all my plans for the Ancestors' personalities. I gave up on it pretty quickly.

Skip to a few month later, when I was looking through some old files and re-discovered it. I thought, 'eh, what the heck', and decided to fix it up a bit and post it. I kinda wish I could do more with it, but I can't stand most of the Dancestors, and it kinda ruined most of the Ancestors for me (Especially Handmaid...).


End file.
